


United

by VisionaryGalaxy



Series: A Thousand Futures of Me and You [123]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, BAMF Pepper Potts, Don't copy to another site, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Insecure Stephen Strange, M/M, OT3, Pregnancy, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-05-11
Packaged: 2020-02-29 19:33:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18784765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VisionaryGalaxy/pseuds/VisionaryGalaxy
Summary: "I'm pregnant.""Shit."





	United

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Tiếng Việt available: [United](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20122834) by [Kataly_Malfoy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kataly_Malfoy/pseuds/Kataly_Malfoy)



> I'm starting to think I like these three...

   Stephen paused just inside the bedroom where he had been napping for nearly three hours. He had shown up at the penthouse expecting both of his lovers to be home only to find it empty, the only thing more powerful then his disappointment of course, was his exhaustion, so he happily passed out in bed.

   By the sounds of things, however, it seemed they had arrived a little while ago. Stephen slipped out, almost silently, to peer into the open space of their kitchen and living room, smiling softly at what he saw. Pepper was sitting on a stool at the counter, long legs swinging aimlessly back and forth while she listened to Tony, who appeared to be making their favourite pasta, rant about another faceless name.

   Stephen found himself just watching for a moment, as Pepper sipped water from her glass and Tony used the dishtowel to wipe at his face and hands in response to the steam. It was so incredibly sweet and domestic that Stephen wished he could watch a rerun all night.

   Of course, it was at that exact moment Tony looked up at him with unnerving accuracy, a grin spreading across his face, “look whose finally up! Just in time, I made your favourite.”

   Stephen padded into the room with a roll of his eyes, not bothering to mention that the dish was only his favourite because it was one of the few things Tony could make without it tasting of ash, “lucky me,” he murmured, dropping a kiss to Pep’s waiting lips.

   “How did you rest?” she asked, one hand reaching up to smooth back his bed head.

   Stephen shrugged, “no nightmares.”

   “Good,” she slid from the stool and began pulling out plates and glasses for them, along with Tony’s favourite wine. Stephen slipped into her place, watching Tony add the finishing touches to the extravagant creation and carefully piling noodles topped with an impressive array of veggies and spices onto plates as she set them down.

   “Perfect” Tony said with a wide grin.

   He pushed the plate in front of Pep who had taken a seat next to him and was pouring him wine, a task still too difficult for his trembling hands. Tony paused, however, before giving him his, eyes glinting, “I’m sorry but this costs one kiss.”

   Stephen sighed dramatically, “then I suppose I’m destined to starve.”

   Pepper rolled her eyes and gave him nudge, but Stephen was already leaning over the counter and pressing a soft kiss to Tony’s waiting mouth. It lasted only a moment before Stephen sat back, pulling his plate with him and inhaling the mouth-watering scent.

   Soon enough they had settled into their routine. Eating quietly for several long minutes, while Stephen tried to ignore the looks inevitably being landed on him. Both of his lovers had not so subtly been trying to get his weight up since his last dimensional travel that lasted nearly two weeks. Between them and Wong, Stephen suspected he’d be overfed ridiculously quickly. However, it wasn’t long before conversation began in the gentle ebb and flow that always made Stephen want to just lean back and watch.

   Just as the thought drifted through him mind, there was a familiar weight on the back of his neck, Pepper’s hand playing lightly with his hair, blue eyes watching him again but this time with a gentle reminder. Stay in the moment, don’t slip away.

   “Harley sent me prototypes for the new prosthetic piece he’s been working on,” Tony commented, his voice further pulling him back to the forefront. “I’m starting to think that kid is really on the wrong track.”

   Tony sipped his wine, shaking his head a little as Pepper raised an eyebrow, “last I check MIT accepts all sorts of independent projects like that. I don’t see why you’re making such a big deal out of it.”

   Stephen smiled lightly, catching the glint in his eye, “because if he really wants to go with that field, he’d have better opportunities elsewhere, more dedicated to that tract. The kid just wants access to the labs there.”

   Pepper frowned, “but he has your labs. Why would he waste that much money if he-”

   “Because of Peter,” Stephen commented with a tinge of amusement. “Pete’s been stupidly excited to know someone when he finally ends up at MIT. They have all these projects they want to work on, combining their fields.”

   Realization dawned in both their eyes and Stephen stared at them a moment. He had thought it was obvious, he knew the boys talked about their projects at length let alone going to MIT together once Peter got there so it was surprising, they hadn’t put it together.

   “Well,” Pepper shrugged. “I guess that explains that.”

   Tony, however, was shaking his head, brows furrowing, “that…is ridiculous. They can work on whatever they want together in my labs. But they should pursue a degree and get their education according to their interests.”

   Stephen shared a look with Pepper, both of their lips pursed, in attempt to contain themselves at Tony’s little rant. He had certainly changed a lot from a few years ago and whenever it showed it was like the world tilted on its axis a little bit.

   “I’m going to have to talk to them about that,” he muttered to himself.

   “You do that,” Stephen encouraged, already knowing it would have no effect on their plans.

   Companionable silence settled over them again, but it only lasted a short while until Tony was catching his eye, darting them towards Pepper with a little nod of his head. Frowning, Stephen glanced over at her as subtly as possible.

   For the first time, he realized she seemed…nervous? That seemed a bit bold, but she was staring into her food and using the fork to twirl the same noodle around and around. The long elegant fingers of her other hand were absently messing with her hair, while her leg continued its jumpy bouncing. Besides that, there was this look of concentration on her face that gave away she was lost in her own head a bit.

   Tony raised an eyebrow and Stephen shrugged.

   “Pep, everything alright?” Tony inquired softly.

   She glanced up, then between the two of them before abruptly dropping her fork and letting out a low sigh. Both Stephen and Tony tensed automatically, sensing she had something to say and she thought they might not like it.

   She picked up her napkin and now her nervous energy was clear as day as she dropped it in her lap and began fiddling with it, not meeting their eyes.

   Stephen’s stomach twisted with unease, a premonition telling him that whatever it was would not be pleasant in the least. Stephen straightened on his seat and as though it were sensing his distress the Cloak slipped into his peripheral, laying on the chair a few feet away.

   “Hey,” Tony murmured. “Are you alright? Talk to us.”

   She looked up then, blue eyes steady as they moved between them, and in a away that was just so completely Pepper Potts, CEO and head of Stark Industries, she said, as though announcing the weather, “I’m pregnant.”

   The words didn’t register for a long moment, all the while Pepper watched them defiantly, then unsurprisingly, Tony summed things up quite easily, “shit.”

   Pepper looked at him sharply and Tony was quick to backtrack, “I mean, that’s good, but you know…shit.”

   Pep rolled her eyes, “listen, I know its not something we’ve all discussed extensively but-”

   “We’re keeping it, them, whatever. Of course, we are,” Tony interrupted.

   A smile finally spread over Pepper’s lips and Stephen still felt like he was falling, his stomach having dropped and his heart rate increasing with dread at every word being spoken as he looked between them for moment.

   Then two sets of eyes were on him and Stephen loved these two so much that sometimes it made him physically ache and he couldn’t spit out the words in that moment. Pepper’s brows furrowed, her hand reaching across toward him and it took all his willpower not to flinch away from the advance.

   “Stephen?”

   He inhaled deeply, was unable to speak but was able to stand and pull her tightly into his arms. He could practically feel her relief as he folded her face carefully against his shoulder, could feel the tears against his thin t-shirt as she gripped him tightly.

   Over her head he looked at Tony, whose eyes were glassy with emotion and a smile pinned to his lips as he watched them. Stephen himself wanted to cry but he didn’t, because it would be for an entirely different reason, his whole life, everything he had built being swept out from under him.

\---

   They celebrated quietly. There was lots to talk about and more to plan and throughout all of it Stephen was barely staying afloat, mind filled to bursting with something unsettlingly close to terror. He watched from the doorway of their bedroom as Pepper slipped beneath the covers of their bed and Tony stripped off his shirt, both inquiring if he’d be joining them now or later.

   “Later,” he murmured, offering a weak smile.

   He all but fled to the living room, walking straight out the glass doors and onto the balcony, desperately sucking the cool air into his lungs. Around his shoulders the Cloak clung to him, hugging like a second skin, helpless in the face of Stephen’s distress.

   A child.

   A fucking child.

   Every instinct he had was to flee. He had been with his lovers for just over four years now and while they occasionally tossed around the idea of a family, it was never serious. Stephen and Tony’s jobs were too dangerous, brought to much risk. Between that and Pepper’s own thriving career, let alone their mentorship of Harley and Peter it seemed like they all had more then they could handle.

   His heart was breaking because the decision seemed so obvious.

   Stephen couldn’t be attached to any child. Peter was the exception in so far as he at least had abilities to care for himself in hard situations. In Harley’s case, he kept their interactions to the privacy of this penthouse or with Tony, so nobody would draw a connection. But the thought of bringing a child into the world that would be associated with him because of his very obvious relationship, the dangers were incomprehensible.

   He couldn’t forgive himself if any of the creatures that stalked him and sought to control and influence him targeted a mere child. It was hard enough having so many in his heart while also bearing the Time Stone, Stephen was sure he couldn’t survive another.

   His eyes burned and his heart ached.

   “Where do you think you’re going?”

   Stephen turned, startled, to find Tony standing there on the balcony in his tank top, arms crossed and barely hiding a shiver in the frigid air. His expression was boarding on hostile, eyes watching him with a fierceness that was downright settling.

   His Cloak detached from his shoulders and went to wrap around Tony instinctively, despite the tension filling the air between them, “you should go back to bed.”

   He narrowed his eyes, “no way in hell. You’re getting lost in your head, again aren’t you?”

   Stephen stared at him helplessly because for once no, he was right here in the present, “Tony, I can’t do it.”

   They weren’t the words he meant to say, they weren’t even close. Tactless and defeated, he wasn’t the least bit surprised when Tony walked up to him, shaking his head, “yes you can, we can. Trust me, I’m bloody terrified too, there is no world I thought I might make a good father, but I think between the three of us, we can do it right.”

   The tears stinging Stephen’s eyes were making things blurry as he raised a hand to cup Tony’s cheek, “you and Pepper are going to be amazing parents.”

   He could feel Tony stiffen beneath his touch, “don’t you dare,” his lover whispered. “Don’t you dare do this.”

   If his heart had broken before, it shattered now, “I have to. You don’t understand-”

   “Then make me,” Tony growled. “Explain it to me, so I can point out what a complete idiot you’re being.”

   “I’m the stonebearer Tony. My duty is to the Time Stone and you _know_ what dangers that brings to us. The people who would go after them, the people who have gone after you and Pepper, I won’t do that to this family.”

   Hands came up to grip his tunic harshly. Tony yanked him close, glaring into his eyes, “you are part of this family. I won’t let you abandon us, abandon your child.”

   “Its not,” Stephen whispered, barely containing a sob as the words slipped out. “Its not my child.”

   Tony’s expression broke for a second, just one, “just because we don’t know which of us-”

   “I know,” Stephen interrupted, the words coming easier now. “I had a vasectomy when I was younger. Children would have gotten in the way of my career. Its not mine.”

   Tony stared at him for a long moment, brows furrowed. Stephen carefully pulled his clenched fists from his tunic, hating every movement as he did so, “I’m sorry, you don’t know how much I want you both, want that child but I’m making the best choice for all of you.”

   “Stop.”

   Both men looked up as Pepper stepped out into the night hair. Her eyes were glassy with unshed tears but the righteous anger on her face would be enough to make the bravest men cower for their lives. As it was, they both froze, taking in her disheveled hair and trembling arms.

   She walked up to them and Stephen could feel the cracks in his resolve under her stormy gaze. She stopped in front of him, her eyes looking into his with that knowing way of hers and then she was gripping his trembling hand and brining to rest on her flat stomach, and Stephen couldn’t stop the tears that flowed down his cheeks.

   “This is your child as much as its either of ours,” she whispered fiercely. “DNA doesn’t make a family and I don’t intend to raise this child without either of you. We love you and if there is anything we should know by now, its how to work past hurdles like this.”

   Stephen swallowed thickly as Tony’s own hand came to rest on his neck, fingers reaching into his hair, “I could get it killed.”

   Pepper shook her head, her own tears glistening in the city lights being reflected above, “but you won’t. You would die before you let anything happen to it or me or Tony.”

   Helpless, Stephen felt absolutely and utterly _helpless_ at denying his lovers, even as terror continued to turn within him and then with a small sob he found himself pressing his head to Pepper’s and Tony’s arms wrapping tightly around him.

   “We love you Stephen and nothing will change that. We won’t lose what we have just to gain something, that isn’t how this works and you know it,” Pepper murmured into his hair.

   “Stay,” Tony whispered over and over.

   Stephen let himself be pulled inside. Let himself be tucked in between them with Tony wrapped around his back and his head on Pepper’s shoulder while his hand rested securely on her abdomen. He was surrounded by those he loved and while it didn’t dampen the fear in the slightest, it did hold off the nightmares for another night.

   “We’ll figure this out,” Pepper whispered.

   Stephen felt like he might believe her.

**Author's Note:**

> We all know I needed to make up for Intoxication. So I present you with this angst fest :)


End file.
